The Ina Garten and Jennifer Garner friendship very nearly never happened. What is now a decade-long culinary partnership began with an assistant’s refusal, a chance correction, and a birthday dinner that Garner’s friends, by her own admission, still bring up.
How the Ina Garten and Jennifer Garner friendship actually started
Garten told Delish Editorial Director Joanna Saltz that her assistant had turned down an initial approach from Garner’s team, who had reached out to arrange lunch or a Barefoot Contessa appearance. When Garten found out, her reaction was immediate. ‘I’m like, “What? You said no to Jennifer Garner?”‘ she recalled.
The correction was made, and in 2015 the pair filmed a special West Coast edition of the show at Garner’s California home. They made Swordfish Provençal with Parmesan Kale Chips, a menu drawn from Garner’s garden. The shoot happened to fall on Garner’s birthday, and Garten found herself invited to the celebration that evening. ‘My friends still talk about it,’ Garner told Saltz.
Three years on, Garner returned to Barefoot Contessa for a Thanksgiving sides special, where she demonstrated her grandmother Exie Mae’s Sweet Potato Pudding. The same year, Garten shared a glimpse of the two of them at an In-N-Out during her Cook Like A Pro book tour.
Pretend Cooking Show and a cat tower cameo
In late 2017 Garner launched her social media series, Pretend Cooking Show, which she described as an homage to Garten. The first episode used the Honey White Bread recipe from Barefoot Contessa at Home, a choice that set the tone for everything that followed.
Garten’s involvement grew from there. When Modern Comfort Food was published in 2020, Garner made the book’s Crispy Chicken with Lemon Orzo, and Garten joined the episode via video call, supervising from a computer balanced on a cat tower. ‘I had never made the recipe before,’ Garner said. ‘I was sweating!’
A 2024 episode went further. Garner was working through Garten’s Cacio e Pepe Scrambled Eggs when Garten appeared in person halfway through, a reveal that made clear Garner had been filming in Garten’s own kitchen all along. On the same day, Garner also appeared on Be My Guest, Garten’s cooking-and-conversation show, where the two discussed the food from Garner’s films and Garten helped her adapt a pizza recipe for her children’s developing tastes.
What binds them, Garten told Saltz, runs deeper than a shared interest in food. ‘The thing that we connect deeply on is that we’re nesters. We just love to surround ourselves with things we care about, and people that we care about.’
Happy Hour With Ina Garten brings a new format in 2026
Happy Hour With Ina Garten is set to extend the partnership’s reach. According to the YouTube Blog, the weekly video podcast with Vox Media premieres on Wednesday, 16 September, with new episodes dropping each week thereafter. The show is filmed and recorded directly in Garten’s New York City apartment, giving it a deliberately intimate setting that fits the conversational tone she and Garner have built across a decade of appearances.
Whether Garner features in the new podcast has not been confirmed, but the pair’s track record suggests the Ina Garten and Jennifer Garner friendship will find its way onto the format at some point. Every collaboration so far, from a Californian birthday dinner in 2015 to a cat-tower video call in 2020, has eventually made it to screen.
For anyone still catching up, Delish has published a full account of their history, drawn from Garten’s recent conversation with Saltz. Happy Hour With Ina Garten debuts 16 September.